Big Data technologies are large-scale data sets collected from various sources, from social media to location data. The key here is not the amount of information but the ability to turn that data into meaningful insights. The methodology of processing and analyzing massive data sets allows realtors to increase their business efficiency and reduce costs. It’s no longer just about listing – it’s about a previously unattainable level of market analytics and smart search for properties. It’s just a matter of choosing the right data and tools.
This article will discuss how Big Data transforms the real estate industry.
Key points
What is Big Data?
Big Data is a term that refers to the tools and practices of processing huge amounts of structured and unstructured information of any type. The data is processed through special analytical platforms and machine learning algorithms.
We are talking about huge volumes of data that humans cannot efficiently process “manually”. Big Data is characterized by three properties: large volumes, variety (from Excel spreadsheets to photos and videos), and speed of arrival.
Regarding real estate, it’s not just structured listings extracted from listings, ads, and real estate websites. It is information from:
- Government websites
- Social media, where profiles of buyers, sellers, investors, etc. are examined
- Business directories
- Archives
- Databases
- Press, etc.
This data is not centralized, is stored in different places, and has little connection with each other. Only an automated system can quickly find important information among them, process it, structure it, and provide useful results.
We recommend reading our article Digital Transformation in the Real Estate Industry.
Big Data in real estate: how it works
Data is mainly taken from open sources on the web. The more facts, the better, so it is important to keep the information up to date. Much attention should also be paid to its storage and analysis. If we are talking about a real estate agency, the source of data can be a CRM system through which transactions with clients are made. If such a system has been operating for several years, it collects voluminous archives of data characterizing the state of the market.
Big Data can be processed using specialized platforms like Apache Hadoop, Cassandra, or Spark. Various machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence help to analyze them.
Big Data analytics is used in different ways. For example, it can be used to find out which companies will soon need new premises. In this case, the platform should conduct a whole research on many companies:
- Analyze pages in social networks, determine the number of staff, information about the search for new employees, and the area of premises occupied by each company
- Monitor the vacancies of these companies on public platforms
- Analyze information about the opening of branches, regional expansion, etc.
All of this data will be collected, collated, and analyzed to identify the company most likely to require new space in the foreseeable future. This is just one possible use case for the technology. In fact, the possibilities for analytics are endless.
How Big Data is Transforming Real Estate?
Here are 6 examples of Big Data in real estate.
Intelligent selection and search
The forgotten days when searching for a house started with flipping through the pages of newspapers. They are replaced by an era when Big Data has made choosing a home much easier and smarter. Modern algorithms process your preferences, query history, and even the time you spend looking at certain offers to find the perfect house or apartment. These algorithms can even provide a personal consultant level of service that understands you perfectly.
Pricing and attractiveness for investment
Price remains one of the top criteria for real estate transactions. Big Data technologies open up new opportunities to analyze price trends, enabling sellers and buyers to find the most profitable deal moments. This data becomes the key to selecting properties with the highest profit potential for investors.
Predicting future trends
While the ability to predict the future seemed beyond the realm of possibility in the past, today, thanks to the processing and analysis of large amounts of data, forecasting is becoming a reality. Experts can predict the future popularity of neighborhoods, price dynamics, and major market trends with high accuracy.
Improving the quality of customer service
Customer service requirements constantly increase, and the real estate industry is no exception. Big Data enables real estate agencies to provide services tailored to individual client preferences, analyzing their online activity and paying attention even to comments on social networks. Thus, when a person asks for help choosing a home, the Big Data-bassed agent will already have all the necessary information to offer options that perfectly match wants and needs.
Improving operations in the real estate sector
The application of Big Data goes beyond simply finding the perfect home for a buyer, significantly improving the operational efficiency of the entire real estate industry. By analyzing massive amounts of information, from property management to marketing strategies and the sales process, it is possible to fine-tune every element of real estate agencies’ work. This reduces costs, increases business profits, and improves customer service.
Transaction security
Guaranteeing transaction security is particularly important in an environment where fraud can rob a buyer of funds and shelter. Using Big Data technologies, companies can conduct in-depth analyses of transaction history, seller and buyer feedback, and other critical data to identify potential risks long before a transaction is concluded. This provides an extra layer of protection for everyone involved in the process and builds trust in the real estate industry.
We recommend reading our article Blockchain for Real Estate: Use Cases and Examples.
Big Data in real estate: where to start?
Even though Big Data solutions are today’s hot topic, most real estate agencies still have manual labor prevailing over artificial intelligence. However, we believe the need to analyze existing data sets or at least collect them is already here.
Start with small steps:
- Analyze your real customers, information about which you have stored in custom real estate CRM
- Supplement this analysis with data from open sources (social networks, for example)
- Upload data from telemetry systems
- Create the most complete portrait of the customer, considering not only their gender, age, and geography but also their interests, places they visit, where they travel, etc.
- Having formed a portrait, you can easily personalize offers for a specific audience: parking for those who bragged about a new car on Instagram, an increase in living space for those who are expecting a child, or a year of utility payments as a gift when exchanging an old apartment for a new one for those who systematically receive receipts for a tidy sum, and so on.
If you need assistance in implementing Big Data in your real estate agency, we can help you.
How can the SoloWay Tech team help you apply Big Data in real estate?
To implement modern technologies in your real estate company and start a digital transformation, you need to get help from experts. Our SoloWay Tech team offers comprehensive solutions and selects the technology stack for your business.
Our analysts conduct research, study the market, competitors, and your business characteristics, and select technologies. Based on the data, we create Big Data-based products that emphasize functionality, appearance, and usability. You get a ready-made solution for your business. We help you implement it and provide technical support.
Contact us for a more detailed consultation. Digital change is the future, and it’s time to embrace new technologies and modernize your real estate company.
Conclusion
At this point, Big Data technologies are already actively transforming the real estate industry, giving marketers the tools to better analyze and understand customer needs. We’ve looked at how Big Data technologies improve the process of selecting and buying real estate, making informed pricing decisions, predicting future trends, improving operations and customer service, and enhancing transaction security.
Going forward, we can expect to see even more integrated applications of Big Data in all aspects of real estate. Innovations such as artificial intelligence and machine learning will be key in making data processing more accurate and personalized. This will pave the way for creating personalized offers, improving service quality, and enhancing security and transparency in the industry.
However, it’s worth remembering that the success of Big Data adoption in real estate relies on more than just technological solutions. It also requires companies to have a deep understanding of customer needs and a willingness to learn and adapt continuously. Those who can most effectively use Big Data’s potential will undoubtedly become leaders in the next-generation real estate market.
